Empty Property: East of England

Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many  (a) privately-owned and  (b) social sector homes in (i) Peterborough and (ii) the East of England were vacant in each of the last 12 quarters for which figures are available; and how many of those homes had been vacant for more than six months.

Andrew Stunell: The following table shows the total number and proportion of dwellings that were vacant (i) for any length of time and (ii) for more than six months in Peterborough Unitary Authority (UA) area and the East of England region in each of the last three years. Separate figures are included for local authority-owned and Registered Social Landlord (RSL) dwellings. Comparable information on the number of private sector vacant dwellings is not held centrally.
	Figures for RSLs include 'general needs' self-contained stock and exclude bed spaces, 'supported housing' and 'housing for older people'. For which vacancy estimates are not available below the England level. 'General needs' self-contained stock accounts for approximately 80% of the RSL sector.
	
		
			   All tenures  Local authority( 1)  Registered social landlord( 2,3) 
			   Number  %  Number  %  Number  % 
			  2007   
			 Peterborough UA   
			 All vacants 2,179, 3.0 - - 156 1.4 
			 Vacant for > six months 610 0.8 - - 74 0.7 
			 East of England   
			 All vacants 69,107 2.8 2,492 1.3   
			 Vacant for > 6 months 24,704 1.0 698 0.4 1,010 9.6 
			  2008   
			 Peterborough UA   
			 All vacants 2,517 3.4 - - 110 1.0 
			 Vacant for > six months 766 1.0 - - 78 0.7 
			 East of England   
			 All vacants 72,773 3.0 2,040 1.3 1,888 1.0 
			 Vacant for > six months 26,255 1.1 689 0.4 1,224 0.7 
			  2009   
			 Peterborough UA   
			 All vacants 2,590 3.4 - - 90 0.8 
			 Vacant for > six months 854 1.1 - - 67 0.6 
			 East of England   
			 All vacants 72,891 2.9 2,595 1.6 2,137 1.2 
			 Vacant for > six months 25,921 1.0 685 0.4 1,342 0.7 
			 (1) These figures relate to stock owned by a local authority regardless of whether it is located within that local authority's boundaries. Peterborough UA has transferred its own stock to the RSL sector. (2) 'General needs' self-contained RSL stock only (3) RSL vacancies of more than six months are based on a proxy measure - "RSL vacancies not available for rent"  Sources:  All tenures - CTB1 council tax form (completed by local authorities); local authority tenure - Business Planning Statistical Appendix (completed by local authorities); RSL tenure - Regulatory and Statistical Return (completed by RSLs)